Business/Commerce at St Clair County Community College

Something unusual happens with St Clair County Community College's business associate degree: while comparable Michigan programs suggest first-year earnings around $37,500, by year four graduates are actually earning just $28,275—a backward trajectory that's hard to explain and harder to justify. This reversal might reflect students moving into part-time work, pursuing further education, or leaving the field entirely, but whatever the cause, it means the program isn't launching careers that gain traction over time.

The estimated $10,300 in debt looks manageable on paper, particularly compared to the state median of nearly $21,000 for similar programs. If that first-year earnings estimate held steady, you'd be looking at a low 0.27 debt-to-earnings ratio—comfortably affordable. But the four-year reality tells a different story. When earnings drop by nearly $10,000 instead of rising, even modest debt becomes harder to manage, and career momentum becomes the real concern.

For parents, this means asking pointed questions: What happens to business graduates after year one? Do they transfer to four-year programs? Are they finding stable full-time work in their field? Without clearer outcome data for this specific program, you're making decisions based on projections that don't match the one solid number available—those disappointing four-year earnings. Unless there's a compelling explanation for that earnings decline, this program carries more uncertainty than most families would want to accept.